Some quotes for the Valley of the Shadow of Death

A while back I went through a bit of a crisis. All the threads of my life seemed to unravel and I felt like I had been brought to the point of virtual death. I hung on for a long time, and I see now how God hung on to me. And then, in the end, a miracle of huge proportions occured. All the unravelled threads were picked up in one scoop and rearranged in their proper order. The only metaphor I can think of is childbirth. I hear the joy of the miracle of life is so great that the agony of being torn apart is totally forgotten.

It's an odd world we live in. In that time I collected the following quotes in my Facebook account that reflected my mood and situation. I figured that now I'm at a new stage in my life I need to find some new ones.

"When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul ....I have no Faith." (Mother Teresa)

"I am a child of doubt and unbelief. What terrible suffering it has cost me and still costs me, this longing to believe, which is so much the stronger in my soul as more arguments against it rise up within me. ... My 'hosanna' has passed thorugh the crucible of doubt." (F. Dostoyevski)

"Truly God is good to ... those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.... All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.... If I had said, "I will speak thus,"I would have betrayed the generation of your children.But when I thought how to understand this,it seemed to me a wearisome task,until I went into the sanctuary of God;then I discerned their end.... But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,that I may tell of all your works." (Psalm 73)

He has put eternity into man's mind, yet in such a way that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3.11)

He has showed you, O man, what is good;and what does the LORD require of youbut to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

If you would be the light, you must endure the burning (a French monk)